Stephen Keshi was without Michael Babatunde through injury, and his latest attempt to solve the problem at number ten was playing Victor Moses there, behind Emannuel Emenike.

Nigeria started strongly and dominated the first quarter of the game, but France slowly showed their quality.

Nigeria start strongly

Both managers selected the more adventurous version of their usual system, with more outright attackers than we’re accustomed to, and there was little patience in the midfield play at the start of this contest. Both were keen to get the ball forward to the attackers as quickly as possible, with the midfield battle very scrappy and physical throughout – it felt like a Ligue 1 game.

Nigeria managed to get their attacking players into pockets of space, with France’s wide players giving the full-backs little support. Both Ahmed Musa and Peter Odemwingie had opportunities to run with the ball, while Moses positioned himself either side of Yohan Cabaye to receive good passes, and this was the first time in this tournament where France have obviously missed a natural ball-winner in front of the back four – they conceded too much pressure, and the defence was too exposed.

Breaks

The best chances came on quick breaks, which took two forms. Either the two sides would press the opposition defence, win the ball in an advanced position, and then play quick passing combinations to work a shot.

Alternatively, there were a few counter-attacks from set-pieces – particularly when Nigeria had corners. France are excellent at springing forward from these situations, as they showed in the 5-2 thrashing of Switzerland, and Nigeria simply didn’t have enough numbers in defence to cope.

Valbuena

The real star was Mathieu Valbuena, who typically drifted inside into clever positions between the lines. He was the only player offering outright creativity or intelligent movement, and he often found oceans of space in the ‘number ten’ position because John Obi Mikel and Ogenyi Onazi were being drawn up the field into a midfield battle against Paul Pogba and Blaise Matuidi.

It was actually a shame Valbuena didn’t play more permanently as a number ten, to consistently ask questions of the Nigerian defence, because there was so much space in that zone. He initiated some good passing combinations, particularly one-twos with onrushing midfielders.

France misshapen

The story here, however, was all about France’s shape. Deschamps gambled on the two-striker system, but simply nothing about it worked. Giroud had a poor game, not holding up the ball effectively enough, or making intelligent runs to create space for others. Benzema is less effective from the left, doesn’t offer width, and can’t get into goalscoring positions as frequently. In turn, his narrowness means Valbuena’s role was compromised.

But arguably the most worrying thing was the fact Benzema isn’t very good defensively, as you might expect. Against Switzerland this worked well, because Swiss right-back Stephane Lichtsteiner was constantly caught ahead of the ball when passing moves broke down, and Benzema could counter-attack into space. Here, Efe Ambrose was allowed to move forward with no-one shutting him down, and he combined with Odemwingie to cause problems in the French left-back zone, with Patrice Evra overloaded.

France take control

The game continued in a similar fashion until the hour mark. Then, two crucial things happened.

First, Matuidi made a very poor tackle on Ogneyi Onazi, who was taken off with a suspected broken leg. Matuidi was highly fortunate not to be dismissed, which would have immediately handed the advantage to Nigeria. Instead, Onazi – who had been performing very well – departed, and Reuben Gabriel entered. He failed to have as much influence in the centre of the pitch, and France rallied.

Another crucial factor, though, was France moving to a ‘proper’ 4-3-3, and everything about the side was better. Griezmann replaced Giroud with Benzema going upfront, and the entire side was transformed. Griezmann offered more verticality in possession, combining nicely with both Benzema and Valbuena, and France piled on the pressure in the final 20 minutes, eventually going ahead with a Paul Pogba header from a corner.

An own goal wrapped up the win, with Valbuena’s pass towards Griezmann following a corner doing the damage. It’s tough to imagine Giroud will find his way back into the starting line-up – France had more shots in the final half hour, after the change in system, than in the first hour.

Conclusion

There were various sub-plots here, but the two incidents on the hour mark changed the game. France could have been reduced to ten men, which would have made Nigeria favourites, but then Deschamps’ formation change completely altered the game, and put France on top. It feels like Deschamps got it wrong from the outset, and it was surprising he didn’t fix the problem earlier – he surely won’t mistake the same mistake again.

Nigeria had a decent enough tournament, with the wide players performing well – but, as ever, there’s still a question about the structure of the midfield, particularly at the top of the triangle.

12 Responses to “ France 2-0 Nigeria: France prosper when returning to a one-striker system ”

ubrab on July 1, 2014 at 2:48 pm

As always, spot on analysis – The 2 strikers approach could have worked defensively if Matuidi had played a lot wider (as a LM in a 4-4-2 on defensive phases), but it would have moved him away from opportunities to harass Mikel/Onazi when they had the ball.
Overall I think it was just a gamble from Deschamps, who did bet on the fact that Ambrose charging forward would not be as dangerous to France than counter attacking with Benzema + Giroud vs the 2 centre backs should have been to Nigeria. It obviously did not work out, and Benzema’s behaviour on the pitch was in my opinion saying a lot about his (un)happiness to play this way.
Cabaye is a not a great ball-winning midfielder, and in games like this one where his long passing was non-existent apart from the occasional long shots he does not deserve his starting spot, which should be given to Mavuba: Same short passes that Cabaye stuck with this game, but better defensively. In fact, I wish Lassana Diarra was still playing at his 2010-ish level, where he would have been a fantastic 6 in this system.

Batistuta on July 1, 2014 at 2:48 pm

As a long-term Real Sociedad supporter, I’ve assumed that Griezmann will be leaving us this summer. I have the feeling that his price tag will depend on how well he plays during the World Cup, so this game was great news. Just hope he ends up going to a club where his talent is appreciated and he is given time to grow – unlike what happened to former teammate Asier Illarramendi.

Having said that, I’m still not sure that Griezmann will be able to shine against more defensive rivals. He is a player who loves to run into space in counter-attacks, but has more trouble when the ball is played to his feet and he has to face a static defence. He’s become better at that with time – particularly thanks to his aerial ability, which allows him to score many goals from headers – but is still not good enough.

Football Algebra on July 1, 2014 at 3:25 pm

Very strange tactics from Deschamps.

If he fields Benzema as a wide forward rather than playing a real winger, surely he would need an energetic, fast wingback to provide additional width on that side throughout the game.

But Evra isnt what he used to be and cant do that job consistently anymore, especially since he knows he would get little defensive support from Benz and therefore knew he had to stay back.

If they had someone like Marcelo or Jordi Alba the system might work, but not with Evra.

Plus Valbuena is not a classic winger, so the only width came from Debuchy. It wasnt enough.

Deschamps is a great motivator but a mediocre tactician IMO.

Hope he learns from hisistakes.

james on July 1, 2014 at 7:10 pm

the foul on Onazi by Matuidi was dreadful , how he stayed on the pitch is a mystery.
this was indeed a major factor in the game, Nigeria also tired the fitness quality gap became apparent.
No TV pundits in the UK even mentioned the bad tackle and I recall it was not the only one.
If it had been French players stretchered off would the aftermath have been the same? perhaps not.

gc on July 2, 2014 at 11:54 am

true enough Matuidi was very lucky to see yellow (Arsene Wenger said as much on French TV)
I don’t think the Nigerians tired because of a fitness gap, rather because their midfield lost control of the game after Onazi went off and they had to chase the ball for long periods, which is exhausting. Also Nigeria played with a man down for some minutes after the incident, probably while they were assessing Onazi’s injury.

Deschamps presumably thought that Nigeria would defend deep and concede possession as in some of their previous games. So he picked Giroud for his aerial threat. Rectifying his mistake by bringing in Griezmann was always going to have an impact, but it was magnified by the blow to Nigeria’s midfield.

Filip on July 3, 2014 at 8:01 pm

Exactly. France was set up to break Nigeria down and Griezman needs space. Giroud did not have a great game but ZM sells him short. He’ll make runs and combine with Valbuena and Benz against the sides that close shop, which, surprisingly, was not the case with Nigeria. Against Germany, it might be beneficial to start Griezman on the wing simply because the german “fullbacks” are so slow. This game is set up to be a demolition of a team everybody thought would make it to the, at least, semifinals. I’d say France beats Germany on the counter, fair and square, 4:1.

This game spelled it out to me how much France miss ribery. Againsttight defences he can spark the attack.

Also I noted how quiet cabaye was. I read before zzm you enthusimg about a cabaye performance where he played as a support striker cum centre midfieddp for Newcastle – was it the win at old Trafford in December 13? Anyway, basically cabaye needs to break forward more and this might work best with remy. Its just one option of the many France have . Sure many ppl will say its a Newcastle front two that finished midtable but it couldn’t have been worse than the system in the first half of this game.

France also miss nasri

Ariyo on July 2, 2014 at 8:23 am

I was a keen follower of ZM but im finding the analysis very eurocentric if not a little dare i say it racist

You say france dominated the final 30 minutes and put this down to the formation change but you fail to sufficiently highlight the importance of the loss of Onazi, in the same way you praise the change.

there is selective memory.
1. No mention of Nigerias goal which should have stood (the 2nd to have been incorrectly ruled out, after the iran game)
2. Girouds elbow on Mikel, which was blatant
3. Nigerias domination of the first 60
4. You dont criticise the tackle on Onazi in the same way you wax lyrical about Valbeanu
5. You mention how poor Giroud was but dont mention the goalkeeping error that allowed Pogba to score.

point number 5 is crucial, or is it? Nigeria dominated the early exchanges and didnt score, france dominated the last 20 and did. Whose to say had Nigerias goal been allowed they wouldnt have. France looked pretty ordinary for the first 70. The changes made a difference but Giroud isn’t a peanut, Nigerias defence marshalled him well.

All in all, reading between the lines everything the French did was superior and calculated, the Nigerians were tactically inept, rash had no real plan

Very disappointed in this one sided commentary and the general trend of eurocentric commentary of this world cup

“You say france dominated the final 30 minutes and put this down to the formation change but you fail to sufficiently highlight the importance of the loss of Onazi, in the same way you praise the change.”

I do highlight the importance of Onazi. But this is a website about tactics, and therefore invariably a change in system will receive more attention.

The ‘eurocentric’ thing is bollocks, really. Do you honestly think an English person is likely to be biased to say, France or Germany over an African nation because they happen to also be in Europe? That’s just not really how the world works.

If you’re going to be silly enough to say it’s “racist”, too, please don’t bother coming to the website – that nonsense is just a waste of everyone’s time, and genuinely quite insulting. Cheers.

Valentin on July 3, 2014 at 1:59 pm

The injury to Onazi was the first factor in France victory.
The second factor was not so much Griezman introduction but Benzema deciding to run and play.
He had made some noises about being unhappy at having to play on the left.
Before the apologists claim that he was physically tired, dehydrated and weak, or suffering from doing the Ramadan, the statistics shownthat he actually ran more in the final 30 minutes with Griezman than he did in the first hour with Giroud.
Not running, not tracking, not passing the ball to Giroud was a way to tell the manager he could not do a job there.
As there is no love lost between Benzema and Giroud, and Benzema considered the better overall player, it was his way of torpedoing Giroud World Cup.
My way on the middle or no way. I hope that Deschamps has the courage to drop Benzema and replace him by Rémy against Germany.
That should teach him that in international competition, the team should always come first before personal glory or gratification.
If Samuel Eto is capable of playing right back in a champion’s league final, Benzema should be able to stomach playing on the left at a World Cup.
I also think that with Rémy being very quick and Germany struggling with ball over the top and running toward goal, that could be a very tactical ploy anyway. Hopefully if France got passed Germany, Benzema would come back into the first XI in a better disposition.

As soon as Benzema got his way, France played at a faster tempo and their superior physical condition and playing combination started to tell. They imposed their game on the Nigerians. In the end, France scored when Nigerians could not summon enough energy to put France under sustain pressure. The second goal coming as a combination of luck, bad goalkeeping and worse defensive positioning.

bc8989 on July 3, 2014 at 4:49 pm

It was clear to anyone that playing Giroud as a striker and Benzema wide was a tactical error and yet Deschamps waited until two thirds of the game was over before rectifying his mistake. Why do some managers wait so long to implement such obvious changes? Giroud should have been subbed in the first half given how dreadful his performance was.

Giroud is very good at holding the ball up and bringing others into play but he is not a traditional target man despite his stature. He is not particularly good in the air and he doesn’t deal well with physical battles and he has a tendency to lash out in these situation. He has elbowed players twice in this world cup and is lucky that FIFA are more concerned with bites than other forms of violent conduct.

Pogba and Matuidi both need to be more disciplined given the drop off in quality to their potential replacements. Matuidi’s excessive aggression needs no further comment but Pogba seems to be on the edge of losing his temper quite regularly.

I thought France missed Sakho quite a lot in this game. Koscielny is very good but he is too similar to Varane and lacks Sakho’s aggression and strength. Sakho also plays longer but accurate passes to Matuidi and Pogba rather than simply giving the ball to the mediocre Cabaye as Koscielny did all game. Koscielny is probably a better defender than Sakho but he looks quite nervous when playing for France.